Shortly after our latest cancellation of the trip to Luverne, Larry Miller and I conjectured that Monday, April 23rd might be the next day that shows decent weather, particularly positive wind conditions. So Larry and I agreed that I would come down on Sunday, the 22nd and try to fly the JW early on Monday, when the winds should be calm.Whether thinking about the trip or what, I did not sleep very well the night before the trip, so I was already tired as I loaded up and attached the trailer to the car and took off for Luverne Sunday afternoon. There were some rain and dark clouds as I departed from the Minneapolis area and I was hoping the weather was not representative of what it would be like down there.Gladly the weather did clear and the sky was mostly sunny as about 5PM I pulled up outside of Larry’s hanger at the Quentin Aaronsen airport. He was there tinkering with his newly-acquired toy, an RAF 2000 gyrocopter. He was trying to get the engine started but was having some problems with that. But he immediately turned from that to give his full attention getting set up to get the JW unloaded and rearranged things in his hanger so everything could be stored in it overnight.I wanted to get the engine going and do some taxiing. This time I will not make the same mistake as I had that let to my accident two-and-a-half years ago and will not have the wing attached when I taxi. Essentially the only thing that needed to be done was to raise the mast and attach the side rails and downtube and start the engine. We got the engine started without any problem, and I’m gratified that I think I know now how to start the engine when in both cold and hot conditions. I had asked Larry to videotape my taxi tests, so after strapping in I added some power and started taxiing around the tarmac and down the taxiway of the runway. I was exhilarated as I experienced impressive power and thrust. I did not have the courage to give full power, but at about 2500 RPM, it was impressive and moved very well. The Halls indicated as high as 25 MPH or so and that was fast enough for me. At one point, as I was on the taxiway, my foot slipped and the JW immediately skewed into the scrub between the taxiway and the runway before I could shut down the power, providing some alarming moments. But overall I was very pleased with the experiment.It was heading toward dusk as Larry and I stored away the JW, closed the hanger, he went home and I started the search for a place to stay for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment